The little Brown Jug is on the line this weekend and it really wants to stay in Ann Arbor.Offense
The word out of Ft. Schembechler is that it's about 50/50 whether Denard goes or not. All indications is the Gardner has been moved back to QB full time this week and is taking the majority of the snaps at practice. It wouldn't surprise me to not see Denard even sniff the field this week and let the run game and defense win this thing. Which should work out fine as the Gophers are 86th against the run and have been lit up by Northwestern, Wisconsin and strangely Iowa. I'm hoping Fitz can get it going this game with the offense forced to rush without Denard. We'll see if the O-line gets things figured out.

Defense
Minnesota doesn't do anything particularly well. They are starting all of their QBs. I don't expect them to get much going against what is now proven to be a really good defense. I expect the D-line to get some pressure this week, as I'm sure the coaches are going to challenge the D, knowing the offense may not be moving at full steam with Denard out. I wouldn't be surprised to see a couple turnovers go the Wolverines way in this one.

Special Teams
It feels like this is a game where the return game gets a score. Expect to see a lot of Hagerup punting and Gallon returning punts. This could be the difference in the ball game.

Prediction
It's hard to say man. We saw what happens to this offense when Denard goes out. Maybe with a week to game plan without him, the Offense will get some production out of it's running backs. I'm not worried about the defense and think Ryan and Roh could have big games here. Gardner has a couple nice runs, Fitz and Rawls combine for 125 and Michigan MANballs it's way to victory. Michigan 27 - 6.